Laboratory testing COVID-19

Abstract

In an ongoing pandemic it is critical to track the virus, understand pathogenesis and epidemiology, manage the cases and suppress transmission that requires effective laboratory testing. In December 2019, a cluster of patients with a novel coronavirus was identified in Wuhan, China. Initially tentatively named 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), the virus has now been named SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee of Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). This virus can cause the disease named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).